The Sands Of Life
by Stargazing Brony
Summary: Join the earth pony Crimson Sands, and a group of brave equines as they attempt to start the first settlement in the western lands of Equestria. War, deceit, betrayal and broken hearts will be the price to pay for their supposed "new lives"


**The Sands Of Life**

**Chapter 1: A new start…for everypony**

**Hello there everypony! I recently decided to start this pony fic after coming up with it a while back, this may slow down the chapter rate for my other story, but not many people read it anyway. So yea, OC's galore in this fic, just thought I would mention that, and I suck at writing, thought I should mention that to :3**

**I do not own MLPFIM or any related companies or material related to the franchise, I only own my OC's.**

This story, starts long, long before the elements of harmony were used to rid the world of the mare of the moon. Before the twisted lord of chaos, Discord, escaped from his stone prison, before even the war in which the mare of the moon was banished. This story, takes place in an age, where Equestria may have been founded, yet the land was not all rainbows and butterfly's. It was a time, in the lands of the west, in which ponies were first attempting to settle, build and prosper in the harsh, violent and unforgiving environment.

Our story begins with a caravan of settlers, a group of brave individuals, guarded by other equally brave ponies. All these ponies wished to leave their previous lives behind for whatever reason, some may have committed crimes, others may just have wanted to get away from it all. For whatever reason, they were all there to start new, clean lives, so in their eyes, they were all family of sorts. The head guard of the caravan, was an earth pony mare named Crimson sands. She had a light brown, almost sandy coloured coat, with a crimson mane and tail making her golden coloured eyes stand out like pieces of freshly cut amber. With a dark brown Stetson atop her head, a bandana of similar colour to her mane wrapped around her neck and a revolver holstered on her side. The royal guards of Canterlot could keep their fancy "traditional" weapons, for her it was a firearm or nothing. She looked rather like the iconic image the west would be known for in the future, a Stetson wearing, revolver wielding cowpony. Her cutie mark was rather interesting, the scales of justice, only rusted to show her talent for using rather…unorthodox methods of criminal justice, in her eyes it was an eye for an eye, something that didn't sit well in the more civilised areas of Equestria.. She was like most, if not all earth ponies, hardy, tough and dependable, never giving up. Crimson was trotting along the side of the caravan, watching the large group of ponies pull along carts filled with wood, water and other essentials for settling. They were on their way to a site that they were informed would be a fantastic start for their settlement, just getting there was the tough part, walking past, and if need be over large rocky formations, passing, and sometime hitting large threats. Ponies may have just started to try and settle in these lands, but criminals on the run from other areas of Equestria have already taken refuge in the western lands, making travelling….somewhat troublesome.

Crimson looked around the group, her eyes landing on one of the older ponies, a doctor by the name of Stitchhoof. Easily one of the older in the group to be sure, he had a silver/grey coat, along with a darker shade of grey for his mane and tail. He wasn't the most colourful or vibrant pony in the world, in fact he looked downright boring, though the others never told him that. His cutie mark, as you can probably guess was something medical related, a slightly bloodied needle and thread, showing off his special talent for stitching up wounds, as well as dealing with various other medical problems.

Crimson smiled at the old colt who seemed to be struggling to pull his cart, rather understandable, they had been going for some time. She trotted up to him, speaking with an accent not unlike that of Applejacks.

"Hey there doc, looks like ya havin a little trouble?" she snickered

The old pony sighed, knowing he was in for a mocking he did his best to smile confidently, speaking in a rather high class accent "of course not! I'm perfectly capable!" he said loudly before speeding up to get away from the Stetson wearing pony who just chuckled to herself, trotting up to the front of the caravan where two more guards were talking amongst themselves.

"Seen anythin suspicious boys?" she asked as they walked

One of the other guards shook his head "not a darn thing, must be a lucky day eh?"

No sooner than a second after the guard had finished saying those words, did his face more or less exploded into a bloody mess into Crimson's, the other guard quickly drew his weapon but was ravaged in a hail of bullets, bullets which then started flying in Crimson's direction, she ran and took cover behind one of the caravans, grabbing her revolver and readying it.

"Whatch'a got doc?" she shouted to Stitchhoof who was taking cover behind another of the caravans already holding a rifle, the other guards also taking cover and firing in the direction of the bullets.

"Bandits, about four maybe five!" he shouted back, firing his rifle blindly around the corner. The other guards with the caravan continued returning fire at the bandits that were hold up on the top of a large natural rock structure, cheering and shooting at the caravan.

"Yeehaw, get em boys!" one of the bandits shouted, all firing their weapons, seemingly not realising they were hitting the carts instead of the ponies, bandits never were to bright.

Crimson calmly loaded her revolver as bullets whizzed past her head, a wooden beam from the cart smashing next to her head, she continued loading her revolver. She took a breath, quickly turned round her cover and fired a single shot, nailing one of the bandits strait between his eyes, brains and skull shards blasting out of the back of his head, the other bandits were unfazed by this and continued shooting, shouting and jeering wildly.

Loud cracks of gunfire echoed through the hot, shimmering air of the desert, rippling like water to the touch of a hoof. A good distance away from the caravan another pony was searching some recently dead bandits for supplies. The pony was a pegasi, a darker shade of brown than that of Crimson Sands. With a white and grey coloured mane and tail he did stand out in the orange sands of the desert, didn't stop him from being any less efficient at taking out bandits though. His mane was not the only thing that made him stand out however, his truly defining feature was on his right foreleg, his weapon of choice, a clawed, metal hand. It was something of his own creation, rather oddly something he had originally made for cutting vegetables, but once he got into a fight using it he found it to be much more than just some kitchen appliance. The metal of which it was made was brown, rather rusted, showing he had been using it for quite some time. His cutie mark was an image showing off his skill of fighting with the odd claw-like weapon, it looked more like a wound than anything else, a trio of bloodied slashes. The pegasi flipped over one of the bandits bodies, his the metal claws on his hoof moving up and resting on the area above the hoof. He smirked removing a knife from the bandits head, spinning it in his hoof before sheathing it on a leather belt that went round his chest, other knives held on it. Looting anything important from the bandits his ears pricked up and his head followed quickly, hearing the cracking noises in the distance he sighed with a small smile, all too familiar with that sound. He took into the air, leaving the lifeless corpses to the vultures that had already started circling the sky, he flew of in the direction of the gunfire, hoping there was still a little action left for him.

Back at the caravan no more casualties had been taken, though some of the carts were starting to wear down under the hail of bullets from the bandits, seriously it was like they had an unlimited amount of ammunition up there, as soon as one stopped to reload another took over.

Stitchhoof looked at Crimson, shouting over the sound of gunfire.

"So! You got a plan!" He fired a few more shots at the bandits, though being a doctor rather than a fighter he failed to hit them, he really needed to practice his shooting at some point.

Crimson laughed, reloading her revolver

"When do ah ever have a plan?"

In the sky above the commotion the brown Pegasus hovered, looking down on the bandits that were firing at the caravan, he couldn't help but smile as he ever so quietly flew down, landing behind the cheering bandits, walking up behind one. The bandit must have sensed he was there, turning round he was faced with the pegasi's metal claws slicing into his throat and tearing it out making him gurgle a scream as blood poured from his neck and down to the ground, spurting out from a torn artery in large bursts of red liquid.

Alerted by the bandits scream the others looked back, seeing the Pegasus holding the chunk of bloodied flesh he had torn from the bandits throat scared them, terrified them. Before they even had a chance to fire the Pegasus laughed menacingly and leapt at them, tearing them limb from limb.

Crimson and Stitchhoof both smiled and looked at each in unison, hearing the screams of the bandits, both speaking at the same time

"Dust Drifter"

The pegasi, Dust Drifter tore at the bandits like some sort of crazed animal, slicing through the flesh of two of them before literally sticking his clawed hand into the final bandits face, his claws becoming stuck in the bandits eye sockets causing him to scream and flail around in pain, before finally falling limp, hanging from Dust's claws.

Dust ripped his metal claws from the caved in eye sockets of the bandit, making what remained of his eyeballs ooze out onto the ground. He smiled and whipped his claws clean, obviously rather pleased with his work, the metal claws folded back against his lower leg before he took off and flew over to the caravan, Crimson and Stitchhoof were already getting things ready to move again, burying the bodies of the two pony guards, paying their respects along with the rest of the settlers.

Crimson trotted up to Dust, giving him a hug which he gladly returned.

The Stetson wearing pony sighed "sometimes Ah wonder if tryin to settle here was a good idea" she said, looking at the graves of the dead guards.

Dust hugged her back, running a hoof down her mane "For a pony as tough as yourself, your taking this harder that I would have expected" he said

Crimson looks to Dust, a loving smile on her face as she kissed him on the lips "Ah know, glad ya here to be so supportin" she said sarcastically

He smiled "you know you love it" he said with a wink

As you may have guessed from his description, Dust Drifter is quite the opposite of an ordinary pony, the metal claws on his right foreleg making him stick out like a Parasprite at a buffet. Crimson, truth be told despised his when they first met finding him rude and somewhat obnoxious…but she found him rather hot at the same time. Of course she didn't tell him or anypony else that, hay she'd never hear the end of it from Stitchhoof. Eventually, after about two weeks of freaking out she asked him on a date, her idea of a date being killing….no, slaughtering a group of bandits. After they killed the bandits they kind of just had sex in the middle of the camp, not that either of them were complaining. Crimson had to admit their relationship has lasted much longer than she expected, a year and a half seems like a long time in the age they live in, considering there is every chance that the next day could be your last.

Crimson smirked at Dust cheekily "Yea..yea ah do" she said before kissing him quickly "now come on" she said looking at the rest of the settlers, already back to pulling carts past them "we should all get goin, reachin the settlin area before sundown will take hard work!"

Dust smiled, watching Crimson as she walked back to the front of the caravan, this time keeping her revolver un-holstered, just in case of another attack. Being like the 'scout' of the group, Dust took back to the air and flew some distance away, surveying the area, looking over the land they would soon call home.

"Ahh…I'm going to like it here" he sighed, looking over the unspoilt, burnt orange sands and rocks of the environment before him.

It took them hours, four sweltering, frustrating, boiling hot hours, but they finally reached the site on which they would begin to build their settlement, their new home, the beginning of life in the harsh lands of the west. The ponies just gazed around at the blank, baron land they would somehow call home one day, even if they did not know it, a tumbleweed blew past them, the same breeze whipping small amounts of sand into the air. Crimson was stood at the front of the group, Dust and Stitchhoof on either side of her, the two then looked at her with an expectant look along with the others, as much as she hated it they did see her as the leader of the caravan…despite her being a crap leader in her own opinion.

Stitchhoof knew what they were all thinking, and decided to break the silence, still looking at Crimson.

"So, what do we do now?"

Crimson surveyed the area, she was no fancy geologist, but it all just looked like a useless pile of sand and dirt to her, why they had been told that this place would be a good place to start their settlement she had no idea, though she figured she should humour it at least, make it look like it could work.

"Wha do we do now? Now we all get ta work" Much to her amusement, as soon as she said that all the cart pulling ponies spread out, near instantly unpacking boards of wood for houses, paint and pipes. Having a few unicorns in the group made the building much quicker than it would have been with just earth ponies.

Crimson trotted around the area for their new start in life, the area was hot, dry, and had a chunk of almost mountain sized rock to one side of it, to be perfectly honest her opinion of it being a useless pile of sand and dirt still stood strong. Dust Drifter, after arguing with a few ponies on how to properly lay planks of wood, landed next to her.

"You think it's a pile of horsefeathers to don't you?" he said with a smile

Him saying this enticed a small giggle from the mares mouth, something she didn't do often, she thought it made her seem…vulnerable

"Ah must admit hon, this sure ain't what ah was expectin" she said, watching the ponies that were hard at work, she would be helping herself, but somepony had to make sure that nothing attacked them, at least that was her excuse for having a rest.

Dust smiled, almost supportively as he placed a foreleg round her shoulder, pulling her closer to him, the two lovers looking out at the working ponies as the sun slowly set.

"Just look at them all, all these ponies are relying on you to lead them into a new life, where they can forget the lives they left behind. You might not like being seen as the leader of this settlement project, but whether you like or not you will always be seen that way, so you better get used to it."

Crimson smiled up at him, he never was much for supportive speeches, so must have really pushed himself on that, she kissed him on the cheek gently, nuzzling the side of his neck.

"Ah know, ah just don like all that responsibility and such"

The stallion next to her couldn't help but chuckle

"I know you don't Sandy, but, at least you're getting respect out of it right?" He said, nodding at Stitchhoof as he, like all the other ponies, began setting up tents for the night.

"Well..ah suppose that is a mighty good reason" Crimson chuckled, though frowning at him using her 'pet name'

"Ah guess we should set up for the night….that means ya'll to!" She shouted at some working ponies that quickly scurried of too setting up their tents. This caused the couple to chuckle and walk to where the rest of the ponies were camping. The way the workers reacted really made Crimson think to herself, maybe being seen as the leader wasn't such a bad thing after all. They both, rather quickly set up their tents for the chilly desert night ahead, Crimson snuggled into what barely passed as a sleeping bag, it was poor quality….actually that was a bucking understatement, but she knew she wasn't exactly going to be staying in a fancy shmancy hotel up in Canterlot. She, along with Dust Drifter, and the other ponies of their group, all slept surprisingly soundly that night…all happy that they had reached the area for their new home…and that they would all work to make it great…together.

**Huh, ok that's chapter number one out of the way. Please tell me if there is anything I need to improve, I'm sure you can find (several or more) things, I enjoy the criticism, helps me improve you know? Updates will likely be slow, college work and such tends to hold me back, but I'll do my best.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked the first chapter, and I hope you like the rest of the story as it progresses.**

**Remember to love and tolerate in the face of hate my friends**

**Stay safe out there **


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